5 Reasons why EHR practice is not popular in India

Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a step forward in the improvement of healthcare system. It is a technology that saves the records of patient’s medical history, physical examination, prescriptions and treatment digitally. But, it is not being widely accepted in India due to the following reasons:

Doctors need to say: Yes Please!

The main reason why Electronic Health Records (EHR) system is not faring well in India is the reluctance of doctors to participate. They are not too enthusiastic about a system that, according to them, constitutes of time-consuming and burdensome writing of prescriptions on computers. In India, doctors see 40-60 patients per day and they have no time to put down the information on computer. But doctors are coming around slowly as big healthcare companies like MEDICOSA work on providing the best and most efficient EHR platforms.     

Two ‘I’s for Incredible India and Two for Illiterate India :

A big hurdle in the path of success of EHR system is the illiteracy rate in India, especially when 70% of Indians live in rural areas. IT is hard to get them to understand the technicalities of EHR system when they don’t even have the basic education. Measures are being taken to connect with the people living in villages. If villagers can’t come to you, you go to them. This is exactly what the healthcare system MEDICOSA does; it bridges the gap between rural and urban. 

No roots in Grassroots :

The metropolitan cities of India are equipped to welcome these technological changes but the problem lies with the grassroots levels. Government hospitals in small cities lack the resources required to make an initiative like EHR a success. There’s no money to invest on expensive interface, training of staff, migration of information etc. 

Government of India, Step Up :

There is a sort of laid-back attitude in the hospital administration when the subject concerns EHR. This is because there is no legal requirement or pressure from government for the implementation of EHR system. Unlike US government, Indian government has not yet made EHR practice mandatory. 

Scared of Change :

The new and fresh idea of digitizing medical records is intimidating to people, as people are used to, and they actually prefer the old method of storing data in files and folders. By – Muskan Gupta

For more info : Electronic Health Records India

PACS-TECHNOLOGY THAT ‘PACKS’ EVERYTHING IN ITSELF

We take all the necessary and sometimes unnecessary measures to increase our life span. Of course, who doesn’t want to live as long as possible? Thankfully for us, in the present age of living, with all the new technology constantly evolving, life expectancy can increase in the coming years.

One such technology goes by the name of Picture archiving and communication system or PACS, as it is popularly known. Advantages of having data digitally instead of hard copy have been well documented by various experts over the past few years. After all, it is well known how careless the human mind can be when allowed to.

PACS healthcare system gives the people liberty to store all their image data which comes from various medical equipments digitally. What this does is facilitate quick and easy access to patient’s images and reports. You don’t have to go from doctor to doctor with an envelope in your hand containing all the relevant medical records and images. Now with PACS healthcare system, you can just go to the doctor and he can retrieve all of your medical data there and then from the online servers and give the consequent advice.

Gone are the days when there would be stacks of the size of novels containing medical records and upon us are the days where these stacks are replaced by folders in a computer and the strain on our minds from having to manage all the stacks is replaced by a smile on our faces as we move purposefully to a new era.  By - Vatsal